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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.